South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2218, 27 April 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1880.

From a discussion that took place at the meeting of the Titnaru Borough Council last evening, it would appear that there exists in quarters that should be better informed,.a good.deal.of misconception, concerning the provisions and requirements of the “ Registration of Electors Act, 1879.” The Town Clerk, in reply to a question, intimated that under the new law the Registration Officer had only to receive claims for enrolment; that clerks of local bodies were not required to furnish a list of ratepayers ; and that only freeholders on the old rolls were entitled to be transferred to the new ones. While commending the Borough Council for their disinterested solicitude about having all ratepayers who are residents of Timaru and have paid their rates, placed on the new electoral roll, we may point out that the Town Clerk of Timaru and the Honorable the Premier of New Zealand arc severely at loggerheads with regard to the reading - of the Act. The language of the various clauses arc so simple that wc arc at a loss to understand why there should he any difficulty about their interpretation. Of course, if Registration Officers choose to shirk their work, they may torture the clauses to suit their own convenience, hut in that case they must bo prepared to accept a serious responsibility. If the duties which the Registration of Electors Act imposes on the Returning Officer arc carried out, there is not the slightest risk of a solitary name that appeared on the old roll being omitted from the new, unless the elector has ceased to be a resident. More than that, payment of rates has ceased to he a necessary qualification, and the Returning Officer will undoubtedly run the risk of being held accountable for misconduct, should he attempt to disenfranchise a solitary resident, because ho has failed to meet the demands of the municipal tax-collector. To shew that the apprehensions of our civic representatives, respecting the new electoral roll are as needless, as the information respecting the provisions of the Act tendered by r the Town Clerk, appears to have been misleading, wo need only refer to section 6. This section distinctly specifics that the Registrar shall compile a new roll by placing thereon the names “of all persons” who are qualified and arc on (lie existing roll. The old qualifications of ratepayer, householder, and leaseholder are no longer recognised. Under the new Act there arc but two qualifications—the freehold and the residential, and so long as a ratepayer comes under either of these, his name on t he old roll is required by the Act to he transferred to the new one. The preparation of claims by the Town Clerk is therefore quite.superllnons, unless the Returning Officer thinks lit to ignore the provisions of the Act. The Act, in short, provides that the Registrar shall endeavor, by placing on the roll all pet sons who, to his knowledge, are entitled to be retained under the residential or freehold qualification and by adding from time to lime the names of such persons without the forma]icy of any claim whatever, to render the electoral roll as full and complete as possible. The. intention of the Legislature in passing the Registration of Electors Act was to extend and not restrict the franchise. With this object it is required of the Registrar that the old roll shall he made the basis of the new one. More than that, resident ratepayers, whether they have paid their rates or not, are entitled to be enrolled, and Registrars are required to insert their names irrespective of any formal chum that they may make. It may he unfortunate in these laird times for local bodies that the deprivation of the franchise can no longer he hold as a whip over the heads of the defaulting ratepayers, but such is the case. Wc would advise all residents, however, who have the slightest doubt on this subject to cither call on Mr Howley, the Registrar for the district, and ascertain whether their names have been placed on the new roll, or, on the other hand, send in their claims to vote. The clause of the Act relating to the residential qualification is as follows : —“ Every man of the ago of twenty-one years or upwards who has resided for one year in the colony, and in the electoral district for which lie claims to vote during the six months immediately preceding the registration of his vote, and is not registered in respect of a freehold qualification under this Act for.the same district, is entitled to be registered as an elector, and to vote at the election of members for such district for the House of Representatives.” Unlike many Acts of Parliament the Registration of Electors Act is charmingly free from ambiguity. Its language is simple—so simple that wc arc astonished the Town Clerk of Timaru should labor under a misapprehension as to its provisions. If the Electoral Registrar complies with these provisions, the new roll, irrespective of any precaution on the part of the Borough Council, or carelessness on the part of ratepayers, will be quite as complete as the old one, and probably a good deal more so.